Gordon/Behind the Scenes
Background Information The Railway Series Gordon is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive who works on the North Western Railway created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He first appeared in The Railway Series book, The Three Railway Engines, which was published in 1945. Gordon is based on the LNER A1 and A3 Class locomotives, particularly the Flying Scotsman. Gordon is the last remaining brother of the Flying Scotsman, and is mentioned as being Mallard's cousin. File:Edward,GordonandHenryWilliamMiddleton2.jpg|Gordon as illustrated by William Middleton (1945) File:ThomasandGordonReginaldPayne6.JPG|Gordon as illustrated by Reginald Payne (1946) File:EdwardandGordonRS6.PNG|1922 Gordon as illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby (1945) File:GordonGoesForeignRS6.PNG|1956 Gordon as illustrated by John T. Kenney (1957) File:TendersforHenryRS2.png|1967 Gordon as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1968) File:Gordon1980annual.png|Gordon as illustrated by Edgar Hodges (1980) File:FireEscapeRS5.png|1986 Gordon as illustrated by Clive Spong (1987) Television Series In 1984, Gordon was introduced in Series 1 of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Behind the Scenes Awdry's model File:TheRevrend'sGordonmodel.jpg Gauge 1 model Gordon’s first model was custom built to run on gauge 1 track for the Unaired Pilot. The model was built from perspex by model maker, Martin Gill. It was painted using glossy car body paint and lined with red Letraline pin-striping tape. The number was custom printed stickers. The model was never tested before being filmed in front of the camera and proved to be unreliable. File:Gordon'sPilotModel.PNG|Gordon's model from the Unaired Pilot File:Gordon'sPilotModel2.JPG File:Gordon'sPilotModelCab.JPG After the series was greenlit by ITV Gordon’s model was fitted with a new a chassis that came from a modified Märklin gauge 1 BR 78. The footplate was also cut down, the bufferbeam was pushed further back, and lamp irons were added on. During the production of Thomas and the Magic Railroad Gordon’s model was repainted in matte paint. File:GordonSeason1Promo.jpg File:GordonBehindTheScenes.png File:Gordon'sModelSpecification.PNG File:Gordon_side_Production_measurement_reference.png File:Gordon'sFacemask.jpg|Gordon's shocked face mask File:GordonHeadOnPromoSeason5.png File:GordonSeason5Promo.png GordonModelRear.png During the production of the tenth series two new models of Gordon were built. This was due to the original model being 22 years old at this point and the tight filming schedules meant there was very little room for emergency repairs . The new models were made out of brass, equipped with a CNC machined aluminum chassis and the bufferbeam details were built from scratch. From this point the perspex model would only appear in scenes that would damage or ruin the brass models . File:It'sGoodtobeGordon38.png All of Gordon’s models were track powered, so pickup contacts were attached to the metal wheels, which ran into the motor to power it. The electricity ran from the track to the wheels/pickup contacts and went into the motor to power him. The models were also fitted with a smoke unit. The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired. Twenty different facial expressions were sculpted for Gordon. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. Some of Gordon’s faces were duplicated in case the crew needed to a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. Two of Gordon's face masks are owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' molded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. Gordon’s resin faces were only used in background shots. File:ThomasAndTheBillboard41.png File:GordonTakesaShortcut37.png File:ThomasPutsTheBrakesOn29.png Gordon’s gauge 1 models had gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series: *Series 4: **His brake pipe is facing downward. **He shares the same whistle sound as Duck in nearly all of his roles. *Series 5: **He regained his old whistle sound, excluding some scenes in Gordon and the Gremlin and Bye George!. *Thomas and the Magic Railroad: **His brake pipe is facing upward again. **He gained red lining on the cab side of his tender. **His trailing wheels moved forward, joining to his driving wheel chassis. *Series 6: **The lining on his pistons was moved slightly inwards. *Series 8: **His eyebrows become thinner and arch more. *Series 10: **The cuts along his cylinders to allow room for the bogey to swivel become much cleaner. **His eyebrows change shape completely. *Series 12: **The lining on the cab side of his tender was removed. In the episode Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady, Henry was incorrectly wearing Gordon’s upset face mask. File:PeterSamandtheRefreshmentLady61.png One of Gordon’s model is now on display at Hara Model Railway Museum. It had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios. File:GordonNitrogenStudios.png File:GordonHaraModelRailway2.jpg Close-up model File:ThomasandGordon31.png|Gordon's whistle File:EdwardGordonAndHenry7.png File:EdwardGordonAndHenry8.png File:WhistlesandSneezes20.png File:OfftheRails12.png File:OfftheRails19.png File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor34.png File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor35.png File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor39.png|Gordon's dome File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor43.png|Gordon's loose dome File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor44.png|Gordon's dome pops off File:GordonandtheFamousVisitor48.png|Gordon's dome is missing File:TheTroublewithMud6.png File:NoJokeforJames32.png File:TenderEngines18.png File:ABetterViewforGordon16.png|Gordon's fireman File:ABetterViewforGordon27.png|Gordon's driver File:ABetterViewforGordon30.png File:ABetterViewforGordon42.png File:ABetterViewforGordon43.png File:ABetterViewforGordon44.png File:ABetterViewforGordon45.png File:ABetterViewforGordon104.png File:ABetterViewforGordon47.png File:ThomasandtheRumours43.png File:ThomasandtheRumours47.png File:ThomasandtheRumours49.png File:ThomasandtheRumours50.png File:ByeGeorge!74.png File:It'sGreattobeanEngine1.png File:BestDressedEngine30.png File:SqueakRattleAndRoll45.png File:SqueakRattleAndRoll65.png|Gordon's Wheels CGI model Gordon has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include: * Series 13: ** The middle sections of his driving wheels are painted black. * Series 17: ** He gained a permanent head lamp and tail lamp. ** His wheels are fully blue again. * The Adventure Begins: ** His side rods become silver. * Series 23: ** He gains another lamp on his left lamp iron, giving him the BR express headcode. ** He gains handrails around his cab entrance and on his door. ** He gains rivets on his cab, bufferbeams front and sides, the back and sides of his tender, his coupling hook base, around his cab side windows, cylinders, smokebox saddle and around his smokebox. ** He gains red lining on the back of his tender. File:Gordon'sCGIModelSpecifications.jpg|Gordon's CGI model specifications File:GordonatKnapfordpromo.png File:Head-OnGordonPromo.png|Head-on CGI promo File:StreamlinedGordonpromo.png|Gordon as the Shooting Star File:Head-OnStreamlinedGordonPromo.png|Shooting Star head-on promo File:ShootingStar(Gordon)inTheGreatRailwayShow3.png File:ShootingStar(Gordon)inTheGreatRailwayShow5.png File:MeettheSteamTeamGordon7.png Voice Actors * Neil Crone (Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Keith Wickham (UK; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Kerry Shale (US; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Kenji Utsumi (Japan; first - eighth series) * Kenta Miyake (Japan; Calling All Engines! Onwards) * Bernard Demory (France and French speaking Canada; sixth series onwards; excluding the eighth-twelfth series) * Michel Lasorne (France and French speaking Canada; eighth-twelfth series) * Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse (Norway; Hero of the Rails - Tale of the Brave) * Norbert Gescher (Germany; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Tetje Mierendorf (Germany; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Jürgen Holdorf (Germany; Audio Books only) * Salvador Nazar (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Jorge Roig (Latin America; Thomas and the Magic Railroad; TV Version) * Dafnis Fernández (Latin America; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Leo Richardson (The Netherlands) * Sławomir Pacek (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards, except Emily Saves the World and Samson at Your Service) * Miłogost Reczek (Poland; Emily Saves the World and Samson at Your Service only) * Danny Segev (Israel; Thomas and the Magic Railroad) * Nir Ron (Israel) * João Carlos Guerra (Brazil) * Salvador Serrano (Spain) * Karacsonyi Zoltan (Hungary) * Markus Bäckman (Finland; Hero of the Rails only) * Pasi Ruohonen (Finland; thirteenth series onwards) * Vladimir Antonik (Russia; thirteenth - sixteenth series) * Denis Bespalyy (Russia; King of the Railway onwards) * Um Sang-hyun (South Korea) * Loukas Frangoulis (Greece) * Karacsonyi Zoltan (Hungary) References }} Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Images of Gordon